The Way the Pieces Fell
by ellie ranesburg66
Summary: Darren has adjusted to life as a vampire Prince, his family is trying to adjust to life without him. All this changes suddenly and leaves everyone trying to figure out which way the pieces fell.
1. Beginnings

**AN: Hey everybody! Just to clarify, Amius is my OC, and the time line is a little messed up, but whatever, I didn't want Annie in this story to have Darius quite yet….So yeah, enjoy!**

Annie walked into the family room and silently sat down on the couch next to her parents who were watching TV, how the hell was she supposed to tell them that she was going out with her dead brother's best friend? Anytime that someone said what Annie liked to call "trigger words" her parents just shut down, there were more than a hundred, including Darren, broken neck, Steve, dead, grave, and upstairs window. Now she would have to use one of them to describe her new boyfriend. Wonderful, just wonderful. She opened her mouth to start to talk, but just then all hell broke loose.

Three men burst through the door, looked around for a moment, then zeroed in on the Shans, two of them circled around them, keeping them their places on the couch while the third, clearly the leader stood in front of them and smiled sadistically, revealing rotted teeth dripping red with blood. He took a step forward and said, "You tell Darren Shan from us that he didn't get away with Murlough, alright? Tell him we'll be paying him a visit real soon alright?"

The man chuckled and began to walk away. "You're late!" Mr. Shan yelled at him, trying to push past the two other men. "You're late! My son's been dead for seven years!"

"Mr. Shan, don't think you can fool me, the vampaneze do not forgive those who cross us, do not make your son's mistake." With that, the man turned on his heel and left, the two other men pushed Mr. Shan back on the couch and stalked off after the other man, leaving the stunned family sitting on the couch in shock.

"This would be a bad time to mention that I'm going out with Steve Leonard wouldn't it?" Annie said in a small voice.

"DARREN! GET OUT HERE THIS INSTANT YOU LITTLE PIECE OF-"Vancha yelled furiously, hammering on his door angrily.

"What? What is so important that you need to wake up half the mountain and almost break my door?" Darren asked, opening the door with a long suffering sigh, he looked up at Vancha, and then looked again, his jaw almost dropping in shock. "What happened to your hair?" he asked in amazement, this however, proved to be too much for the enraged Vancha, who howled in anger, threw backwards against a wall, pinned him to the ground and began choking him.

"Vancha, as much as I believe that Darren deserves to be choked for something, perhaps that should be left to me after I decide whether it is warranted or not." Larten Crepsley said in a bored voice, looking down on the scene calmly.

"Mr. Crepsley….Help….Didn't…Do anything!" Darren wheezed desperately.

"The ungrateful little brat died my hair pink, Larten! Pink! Look at it and tell me the boy doesn't deserve to die!" Vancha growled in fury, releasing Darren to point at his hair.

"I don't know Vancha; pink does suit you rather well." Larten said, tilting his head as if appraising the hair.

Vancha let out a howl of despair and ran down the corridor trying desperately to hide his hot pink hair from view. Larten offered Darren his hand and effortlessly pulled him to his feet, examining his throat.

"That is going to bruise; I hope you do not plan on any more stupid pranks on Vancha. I would hate to have to clean up your splattered remains from the ground." Larten said calmly before walking away.

"Mr. Crepsly! Mr. Crepsly! I didn't…..Oh whatever, probably wouldn't believe me anyway, stupid old coot." Darren grumbled, walking towards the Hall of Sports, maybe he could get Arra to eat breakfast with him that would show the old man he wasn't the only man on the mountain.

Amias had finally found the end to the trail, he couldn't fathom why in the world the vampaneze had walked rather than flitted, but then, he also didn't know why they nearly killed each other and quite literally sucked people dry for breakfast, so there you go. The house was relatively normal looking, standard two story with a nice lawn and neatly painted trim. He took a moment to pity the occupants, if they were not dead; they were certainly not normal anymore and were probably frightened out of their wits. Poor unknowing humans.

He entered the house and found them huddled together on a coach, looking vaguely as if they were in shock. The man looked up wearily.

"He's dead you know. He's not here." Amias sighed, so there had been casualties.

"Who?" Amias asked gently, trying to gauge the damage done.

"Darren. He was a good boy, a nice boy; don't know why you think he's done something wrong. He's been dead for years now, the others didn't believe me. Would you like to see a picture?" The man seemed almost desperate to explain that the boy was in fact dead.

"Alright." Amias said with a sigh, this was going to be a long night. The man shuffled away and came back with a picture.

"That's my boy, last picture before he died, that's his friend Steve on the right." The man smiled fondly at the picture before handing it to Amias, who picked it up and glanced at it with long suffering gaze, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

"W-What did you say your son's name was? Daniel right?" Amias asked hopefully.

"No, Darren. Darren Shan." The man walked back to his family and pulled his wife and daughter close to him, "Like I told you, he's dead, been dead for years." Then he was quiet, just holding his family. Amias put his head in his hands; things had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: I'm back! Give me ideas, should I have Annie and Amius together? Should they just like each other and that's it because Annie's infatuated with Steve? If you want to see it tell me! Oh and vampires have been in and out, moving a small amount of clothes and stuff (the Shan's are just weak little humans in their eyes, so they're going to carry the minimal clothing up for them beforehand to get things moving quickly)**

Amias sighed, pacing around the room trying to figure out what to do, how the hell was he supposed to get three _humans _of all things to Vampire Mountain without alerting the vampaneze or setting off a small scale war among his own people? And to top it all off, they weren't just any humans, they were Darren's humans. Darren who had only just stopped mopping around about what could have been and started enjoying life as a vampire, and he definitely didn't want to be around when Larten found out that his assistant's family would be on the mountain, the stuck up old man seemed to relax more around Darren, seemed to regard him as the son he never had (not that he would ever admit that) and he definitely wouldn't stand for Darren to be taunted by what he lost. Amias heaved another heavy sigh; yes Larten was most definitely going to kill him.

"Has anyone seen Mookie? I can't find him anywhere." Annie wailed miserably, she had been looking for hours for her old teddy bear, embarrassing as it was for her, even at sixteen she still couldn't sleep without him.

"I packed him in the bag I sent up to the Mountain, I hope you don't mind." Amias said with a slight grin, the odd little family was strangely endearing….except for the father, he was quarrelsome, moody, and refused to even look at Amius, who apparently "Was lying about a plot to kill them, had disgusting looking scars, was completely delusional about being a vampire, and should take a shower."

"Yeah, that's fine. Thanks, by the way, for everything, you've been really great…I can tell the others don't approve of you not letting us get slaughtered by those things. So...Yeah…I'm gonna go….do stuff… Thanks again!" Annie babbled out quickly, kissing him on the cheek and running off blushing furiously.

Amius shook his head trying to clear out unwanted thoughts, "No! She's human, she's a Prince's sister, _Darren's sister_, just no! Don't think about her, she's off limits!" he growled to himself roughly.

"Damn straight she is!" Mr. Shan grumbled as he walked by shooting Amius a glare. Amius groaned, why in the hell was it always him that got stuck in these situations?

DDDDDD DDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDDD DDDDDDDDDD DDDDD DDDDDDDDDD

"Mr. Crepsley, why is everyone running around in a foul mood?" Darren asked rather helplessly, no one would tell him what was going on, he had even pulled the Prince card and tried to order them to tell him, but they remained silent. The suspense was driving him nearly insane, especially since Mr. Crepsley had ordered him to stay in the Hall of Princes for the next twenty four hours. It had been ten hours since then and his mentor was the first one to talk to him at all during that time.

"I cannot tell you, not until we have explained everything to them, you would run out to see them and give them a heart attack, and they have had far too much excitement as it is. No, it is better that you are kept in the dark for now, you may be a Prince, but you are a young and foolish Prince who lets his heart rule his head." Mr. Crepsley said, looking proud of himself for coming off as "cryptic, concerned, and insulting" all at the same time. Darren was not so impressed.

"Ha! Where'd you dig that one out of? Let your heart rule your head, what is that a fortune cookie!" Darren exclaimed, roaring with laughter, understandably Mr. Crepsley was not amused.

"You may be a Prince but you are still my assistant, arrogant whelp! It would serve you right if I left you here by yourself for another fourteen hours, you do realize that is how long you have left in here?" Mr. Crepsley growled clipping him in the back of the head.

"Fine, don't leave, I don't want to be alone in here, I'm just so bored!" Darren mumbled, looking miserably down at the floor. Mr. Crepsley sighed and put an arm around his assistant, if he wasn't so worried about how the boy would react when he found his family _in _the Mountain, he would still be out there hunting down the fools who thought this was a good idea and making them pay. His assistant had gone through enough without this, not for the first time, Larten wondered why all the forces of nature seemed intent on making the boy miserable. Darren's family could not remain in the Mountain forever, they would have to rejoin the world at some point, and this separation would be more painful than the first.

"Darren, I am still not going to tell you what is going on, but please do not lose sight of what you have learned these past years, do not lose sight of who you are. I know that I have not made this clear, but I am here for you, if you ever need to talk, I am here." Mr. Crepsley managed to get out, albeit rather slowly.

Darren seemed to be in shock, his jaw was hanging open and his face had gone paler than its usual color.

"I'm dying aren't I?" Darren asked in horror, staring at his mentor miserably.

"No, you are not dying Darren, if you died this early in your life I would be forced to kill you." Larten said with a rare smile.

"So you're dying, or Vancha, or Mika, maybe Paris or Seba, or Harkat, or Evra, or-" Darren began to rant before being cut off.

"No! No one is dying Darren, where did you get this ridiculous idea?" Mr. Crepsley asked, slightly annoyed.

"There's no way you would have told me that unless someone was dying." Darren said solemnly.

Suddenly, they both looked at each other and began to laugh, after a while, when they were able to breathe, they talked, fought to pass the time, and just enjoyed the calm before the storm. All the while, Larten was haunted by the thought of what his assistant, what his _son, _would have to face in only a few hours. And he was powerless to stop it.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Hey all, I really hate it when people do this, but you leave me no choice, over 100 of you have read my story, two of you have bothered to review it. Thank you ferretgirlsz and StayBeatiful1, you are both amazing, and I want you all to review or I'll put a hold on updates, but because I'm nice… CONTEST TIME! IF YOU REVIEW I'LL LET YOU GIVE ME A CHARACTER AND I'LL USE THEM, OR GIVE ME A SCENARIO AND I'LL USE IT! ISN'T THAT WONDERFUL? Seriously, I'll do my best to fit them seamlessly into the story and they'll be a permanent part of it not just a quick in and out, or the scenario will be the best I can possibly make it, so please review. (Oh and sorry Dermot is being such an ass, but he's still mourning for his son, and then when he finds Mr. Crepsley has kind of replaced him, he gets pissed understandably, and I'm going to call Mr. Crepsley Larten from now on, it gets too complicated switching, so Darren and Larten are on good enough terms that Darren calls Crepsley Larten.)**

Dermot Shan was not in a good mood, in fact he was in a terrible mood and as a result, he had decided to take it out on everyone around him. His son was dead and now the remainder of his family had been taken into some kind of twisted witness protection program run by freaks who thought they were vampires. Annie and Angela were already settling in like they were planning on _staying_, he on the other hand knew better, they were going to flee at the first chance, the only reason he was here was because Angela was so damned stubborn and he couldn't let her and Annie go into this alone. He still couldn't remember much about getting here, that one with the scars on his face, (although that seemed to describe just about everyone in this horrid place) what was his name? Goliath? Aman? Amias! That was the one, had breathed on him and he had woken up inside "Vampire Mountain" as the horrid man said it was called. Yes, Dermot didn't know how they had gotten in here, but he was getting them out.

Darren awoke to Larten shaking him awake, he automatically sprang off the ground, hand on his sword before Mr. Crepsley shook his head. Relaxing, he was able to revert back to his teenage state, grumpy about being woken up and wondering when breakfast was to Mr. Crepsley's amusement. Only his assistant could go from being a hardened battle ready soldier to a surly teenager in the span of about three seconds.

"I will be back in an hour, Harkat mentioned that he would stop by to keep you company, do not leave the hall. Oh, and Darren…..it would be advisable to avoid Vancha, he believes you dyed his hair pink after all, and I would hate to have to find a new assistant." Larten exited the hall with a chuckle.

Darren paled, he would never be able to convince Vancha that he had no part in his "unfortunate" hair dying, and Vancha was most likely to see it in the simplest way he could, DIE for DYE.

Larten walked slowly into the Shan's quarters, this was not going to be fun, but he had resigned himself to it, he would tell them only that their son was alive and what he was, Darren could tell them the rest. If Darren could handle the awkwardness, the shame, the fear, so could he. So he steeled himself and said quietly, "Excuse me, Mr. Shan, Mrs. Shan, Annie? May I have a word?"

"It was you?" Darren asked Harkat in shock, not sure whether to be angry, proud, or delighted, so he decided on the most prominent one, anger.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"I understand that this may not make much sense, I understand that this is a difficult time for all of you. I have not told Darren of your arrival yet, and must talk to him about it, understandably, he will be a bit upset, if he does not at first wish to speak to you, I want you to understand what he is going through. However, I believe he will want to speak to you, even if he does not wish to, he will believe it is his duty, and Darren has a sense of duty that would override decisions about his happiness. He is not the same boy you knew eight years ago, you are getting your son back, he may look the same, but he is no longer a child for you to shield from the world, he is an adult and should be treated as thus, if he is not, there will be serious ramifications. I must go speak with him, please stay here; do you have any questions before I go?" Larten concluded, thinking that it had gone well.

"Yeah, I've gotta question for you. Have you lost your f****** mind?" Dermot yelled. Ah, maybe it hadn't gone so well.

Larten reentered the Hall of Princes ten minutes of yelling later, he just walked out after a while, confident in the human need to breathe occasionally to calm the man down. What he found only half way surprised him, Harkat Mulds tied to a chair, looking utterly defeated while Darren lounged on his throne, tossing a rubber ball back and forth against a wall. The moment of truth had arrived.

"Hey Larten, want to help me torture Harkat for dying Vancha's hair pink?" Darren asked casually, as if he used his mentor's first name in the same sentence as torture and Vancha's pink hair every day.

Larten looked on grimly, this was the life his assistant should be having, if it was not for those meddling vampaneze and whatever idiot thought up such a stupid, imbecilic…

"Erm…Larten? You're mumbling and looking murderous again….should I just untie Harkat?" Darren asked uncertainly, looking quite a bit afraid.

"Yes, untie him; I have a matter I need to discuss with you." Larten said, trying to not frighten his assistant any more than was necessary.

Ten minutes later, Harkat had been released and Darren was slumped on the floor with his back against the wall looking like he was in shock.

"They're- They're here? Right now?" Darren asked quietly, Larten wanted to go punch something, his assistant sounded almost childlike, afraid, unsure, and miserable. He walked over to him and put an arm around his shoulders, the boy was shaking, he seemed to be going into shock, it was too much to take in at once that the vampaneze were after his family and that they were _here _of all places.

"Darren I- Oh confound it all! Darren if you do not wish to speak to them you do not have to, I swear to you, they will be protected, but in the mean time, let us find the idiot who thought this up and make him _wish _we had sent him to the Execution Chamber instead!" Larten growled, trying to let out pent up anger and comfort his assistant at the same time.

"I appreciate it Larten, I really do, I just- I need to do this. But, this doesn't change anything, my parents might be here but….Charna's guts this is embarrassing….you're like a father to me Larten, and that's not going to change." Darren muttered, trying to look anywhere but Mr. Crepsley's eyes, Larten chuckled, this boy really was something else, he could face down hordes of vampaneze like they were stuffed ponies, laughed in the face of death, but he couldn't handle an embarrassing situation at all. But he was touched, to have the boy go from openly despising him and trying to kill him to calling him father, well, it made Larten proud he had chosen this boy as an assistant, proud of the man the boy had become.

"Thank you Darren, I think of you as the son I never had, and if I thought that you would remember this at all by the end of today, I would never have told you that, I do have appearances to uphold you know." Larten said with a faint smile.

Darren nodded, then looking resigned said, "Well, let's go talk to them…Larten? How-how is Annie?" He looked a little bit worried about the girl he had always thought of as a little kid that needed to be protected.

"She's fine Darren, she's sixteen, not eight, not the little girl you knew eight years ago…And if I heard correctly, she has a boyfriend." Crepsley added with a chuckle.

"WHAT?"

Annie was tired of watching her father pace around grumbling and cursing, this wasn't him, this wasn't the man who raised her. He was usually funny, calm, collected, not a pacing cursing monster who was rude to everything with a pulse, Annie sighed, deciding that this was just how he dealt with large amounts of stress. She needed him to calm down though, before he gave _her _a panic attack as well.

"Dad…Can you please stop pacing, I'm freaked out enough already." Annie asked calmly.

He looked at her in shock and just when she was sure she was going to get a yelling match to end all yelling matches, that Crepsley man with the orange hair stuck his head around the corner.

"They are still here." He called around the corner; there was a small bit of murmuring from behind him, in response to which he scowled.

"You committed to this, you made your decision and you are sticking to it!" He growled in low tones. After couple more seconds of murmuring, his scowl softened, "No, I will not leave if you do not want me to, now come on, we are keeping them waiting."

Then he disappeared around the corner, and when he reemerged, he was holding her big brother's, her _dead_ big brother's shoulder, glaring at them as if they were trying to frighten the boy in front of him. Annie was in shock, Darren would have been twenty years old right now, and here he was, twelve again, with that sheepish I'm-sorry-I-ate-your-last-popsicle-Annie look. She shook herself, trying to snap out of it, this was impossible!

"Hey guys." Darren said softly, and then Angela, who always claimed that women who fainted at the sight of something were either weak or striving for a man's attention, passed out cold on the floor.

Ten minutes later, she was finally woken up, only to pull her son into a suffocating hug before he had time to react. After a couple of minutes she relinquished her hold on him and allowed Dermot and Annie to hug him, then Larten claimed him back and dragged him over to a bench that had been pulled in just for this purpose, the Shan's reluctantly sat on the bed across from the bench, looking at him like he was going to disappear.

"You owe them an explanation Darren." Larten said softly, squeezing his shoulder in encouragement, this gesture was not missed by Dermot who felt his bad mood coming back with a vengeance, this Martin Creepy or whatever his name was had no claim on his son, he was not the boy's father.

"Right….where to begin? Umm, well, you guys have met Larten, my mentor, right? Oh, yeah, of course you have, being stupid…..I guess it all started when…." Darren managed to stammer out, his voice growing more confident while he told his story. When he got to the part about Steve's blood being evil he thought Annie was going to strangle him, she kept yelling about how he was just misunderstood and how nobody should say things like that, but the real explosion came when he told about Mr. Crepsley's offer.

"He-what?" Dermot said in a low dangerous voice, glaring at the vampire.

"He offered the antidote in exchange for me becoming a vampire." Darren said uncertainly, looking at his mentor like he was a dead man. Dermot launched himself at Crepsley, Darren quickly pushed his father back towards the bed, but he hadn't been around humans in quite a while, he had forgotten how fragile they were. Dermot flew through the air and hit the wall with a sickening thud, Annie and Angela stared in horror at the injured man for a couple of seconds before they realized that Darren was fighting hard against Larten, trying to run out of the room.

"This is why I had to leave! This is why! I'll hurt them again let-me-go!" Darren cried, half sobbing, struggling harder against Larten's firm grip.

"You are going to hurt them more by walking away now! Sit down and tell the rest of it or so help me god, I will tie you down to Bars in the Hall of Sports and let Vancha beat you senseless!" Larten growled, forcing him back into his seat.

Darren reluctantly kept telling his tale, after it was determined that Dermot was fine, but he refused to look at them, and after the part about Gavner and Arra's deaths which he still felt guilty about, he asked Larten to tell the story for a while. Soon he began talking again, finally finishing with, "And now we're at war with the vampaneze, who are after you, and soon it'll be my turn to go hunt down those sorry sons of b-"

"Darren, language!" Larten barked, cuffing him over the head, Dermot once again felt a rush of jealousy surge through him, now tinged with hatred. This…This _thing_ had taken his son from him and completely turned the boy against him, Darren had once been the good child, the dependable one, and suddenly he was throwing his own father across the room. Dermot glared, why couldn't his life ever be fair?

Angela however had latched onto the important part, "What do you mean you'll hunt them down? Surely you're not going straight into a war zone?"She asked in concern, looking uncertain about how to handle this particular situation.

"Yeah, I'm a Prince remember? That's kind of my job, talk strategy, sit around the Mountain and train, and kill some vampaneze, that's just what I do." Darren answered calmly with a shrug; this had stopped being odd to him ages ago, now it was just what was right and natural about his world.

Angela looked outraged, "You're just a child! Can't they have older Princes do it, I'm sure that there's a better way than making _children _fight!" she exclaimed, glowering at Larten. Darren and Larten shot to their feet, eyes burning with anger, "I ceased to be a child years ago, I have gone through more in my life than you ever have or will, I am a vampire Prince, I have been in countless battles, have killed countless people, I drink _blood_ for god's sake! I think it's you that's the child Mother." Darren growled before storming out of the room. Larten glowered at them one last time before walking off after his assistant, leaving the Shan's in a mild state of shock.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thank you to StayBeautiful1, ferretgirlsz, and helen fisher for reviewing! StayBeautiful1's character Ronnie from One Freakish Love, if you haven't read it, you should, it's awesome! I will also be using ferretgirlsz character Maria Daniels from "Story of My Life Right?" You should definitely read this if you're into Larten/OC, it's a great story. Expect to see these characters if not in this chapter than in the next one, enjoy and remember….REVIEW!**

Darren was angry. No scratch that, Darren was _furious,_ even though they didn't know it, his family had touched a bit of a sore spot calling him a child and suggesting that he be kept inside while the war was fought. It just wasn't fair, nobody had had the nerve to call him a child since he braved the Trials of Death and survived, the other vampires accepted him as their Prince, and not just as their Prince, but as an incredible fighter, a friend, and a family member. And now his blood family couldn't even do that, Darren had dreamed of this day so often, they would smile at him and tell him they were proud of him and that it was his life to live, that they understood what he had done, why he had done it. It obviously hadn't gone that way.

Darren stormed through the corridors, daring anyone to get in his way, challenge him, hit him, ANYTHING to let out the desperate need to beat someone to the ground until they cried for mercy. He knew he was being insane, he knew he should calm down before he hurt someone, but all he could think about was his rage.

Somehow he managed to get to the Hall of Sports and he became aware of someone walking towards him, let them come, he needed a fight. It was a girl, an oddity in itself on Vampire Mountain, her blond hair was tied back into a tight braid and her eyes were unnaturally bright, Darren knew automatically what she wanted, her eyes only shone like that when she was ready for a fight. She threw him a staff, "Larten ran in just before you, he told me everything. Sounds to me like you need your ass kicked on the bars." Ronnie said with a grin.

Darren grinned back; this was why he loved her, when she smiled, it was impossible to not smile back, that and she was tougher than nails. She kissed him on the cheek as she walked by, "Don't think that because you're emotionally unstable I'm going to go easy on you."

"Don't think that just because you're my girlfriend I'm going to go easy on _you_." Darren shot back with a grin, before jumping onto the bars.

Larten watched from a bench as his two assistants clambered up to the highest bars, calling out taunts and insults all the way up. Out of the corner of his eye he could see a crowd forming, not only was watching people battle on the bars incredibly amusing, but watching Darren and Ronnie was like watching an entirely new sport, they seemed to anticipate each other's every move. He leaned back, ready to thoroughly enjoy watching his two assistants fight, but then out of the corner of his eye, he saw three people walk uncertainly into the room, that alone told him who they were. Vampires didn't do uncertain.

Larten sighed and walked towards them, Darren had put his anger aside for a moment to speak to Ronnie, but once he was on the bars, it would come back with a vengeance, they really shouldn't watch this.

"You should leave, Darren is angry and you do not wish to see him fighting when he is angry." Larten said, glaring at them with a cold calculated vengeance, now was not the time to react the way he wished to, not in front of Darren, Ronnie, and countless others who would never let him forget it. Dermot was glaring at him, the foolish man was not going to leave, and the look in his eye said that he hated Larten with a passion, this day just kept getting better and better.

"He is _not_ your son," Dermot growled furiously. "I think that I probably know him a bit better than you do, or I will after he recovers from you brainwashing him! We are staying because we are his family, I suggest _you_ leave, we know how he is when he's angry much better than you do!"

Larten almost laughed, they had only seen Darren mildly angry before, Darren was much more of a wimp when he was human, quick to give in to whatever anyone asked of him because he saw no gain in disobeying. Larten liked the vampire Darren much better, he was much more interesting, and it would be amusing to see how his family would react to his skill on the bars.

"Suit yourselves, follow me, the best place to view the bars is this way." Larten said calmly, leading them over to a bench that was quickly vacated by the vampires sitting on it under the force of Larten's glare.

As Darren adjusted to the bars, he felt his anger surging back, even the fact that it was Ronnie that was on the bars with him couldn't deter him from wanting to watch as each of his opponents fell to the ground, defeated. He took up his fighting stance and inclined his head towards Ronnie; she grinned at him and nodded back, before lunging towards him with her staff.

Darren deflected the blow and jumped onto another bar, landing a glancing blow on her hip, she let the momentum carry her and fell a couple of feet down before grabbing a bar and clambering onto it. Automatically she blocked his blow and swept her foot towards him, trying to catch him off balance, he jumped it and landed a blow to her head, which immediately gushed blood. Ignoring it, she jabbed her staff into his stomach, sending him flying backwards into another bar.

He flipped himself upside down so she would have to get near him to land a blow; Ronnie merely jumped to the bar below and began fighting Darren from there where he was at a disadvantage. They exchanged blows for a while, leaping from bar to bar, parrying, twisting, hitting, almost as one fluid being. Well, that was the way the vampires saw it.

Angela stifled a scream as the girl swung a large stick at Darren, causing him to jump backwards and almost fall fifty feet, in a move of utter barbarity, he hit back at her, causing her to fall and luckily catch a bar before she fell to her death. Then the awful girl tried to _trip _Darren to make him fall, he accidently hit her, her Darren certainly wasn't evil enough to hit the girl on purpose.

Annie gasped as Darren caught a nasty blow in the stomach and flew back through the air, catching the bar with his legs and staying upside down instead of flipping back over. What was he doing? Couldn't all of this be accomplished from the ground where they wouldn't _die_ if they lost?

Dermot glared at that awful Crepsley man smiled at the sight of two children fighting to the death, how could he be _happy _about this? It wasn't as if he had trained Darren to fight like that! Dermot allowed himself a smug smile, Darren must have picked it up from him, maybe he would give Crepsley the old one two sometime. That would show him.

Amias looked towards Annie, who hadn't noticed him yet, he had been trying to stay away, he wanted her to get acclimated to Vampire Mountain before he started getting to know her better. He had known her for less than two weeks, but it felt like she had been there all his life, he had never felt this way for someone before…. Then he shook himself, vampires were not all mushy and lovey dovey, they were strong, cool, collected. "Look cool, Amius, look cool." He thought to himself, trying to act natural. Vancha appeared out of nowhere, hair reverted to its normal color, "Amius, what the hell is wrong with you? You look like you just ate a bucketful of bat droppings!" Vancha roared with laughter, causing Annie to look over towards them and shoot him a confused look before turning around. Amius groaned, feeling his face burn, so much for cool.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hola people! Thanks for reviewing everyone! (You know who you are if you reviewed, if you didn't…ggrrr, but I'll forgive you if you review this chapter!) Please welcome Maria Daniels to the story! Ronnie fit in really well in the last chapter, I'm really hoping that Maria will fit just as well. Thank you again to StayBeautiful1 and ferretgirlsz, my very first reviewers! Well sit back, enjoy and review! (Oh and does anyone know how to do those line things for paragraphs?)**

Various dramas played out on the ground, but Darren and Ronnie remained above, oblivious to everything except the person in front of them. The battle continued for what felt like hours to the two of them, and with every hit, every block, every death defying jump, Darren felt his anger ebbing away. The bars were his bliss and his vice, and he thought in amusement as he aimed a jab at Ronnie, it was much cheaper than therapy.

Ronnie smiled evilly in triumph, she could see that blow coming a mile away, all she had to do was grab his staff and twist it away from him, effectively throwing him off balance. Darren was such a fool sometimes, so easily distracted- The next thing she knew, she was lying on the ground with several people leaning over her, she groaned, she had been so stupid! Ronnie had been so caught up in the move she could see, that she hadn't even thought about the one she couldn't, looking back on it, she should have protected her stomach before reaching for the staff, stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Ronnie? Ronnie, talk to me, I need to make sure you're alright before I go yell at your idiot of a boyfriend. Come on Ronnie, wake up." A concerned voice was saying, Ronnie groaned and muttered something along the lines of, "Oh so stupid…. Block…kill him."

"Good, you're not brain damaged; excuse me while I go knock some sense into that boy." Maria said with an evil glare, making a beeline for Darren, Ronnie almost felt bad for him. Almost.

Larten appeared out of nowhere, pulling her up to her feet before checking her for broken bones. "That was a good fight…until you managed to miss a blow a two year old could have seen." Larten said in that infuriatingly calm tone.

"Shut up Larten, I'd like to see you do better! All you do is talk, talk, talk….." Ronnie trailed off, her head suddenly began spinning, someone towards the back said something about a concussion, then the world went black and she toppled into her mentor's arms.

This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a is a line.

Darren slowly backed up, hands up in surrender, "Maria, I didn't try to….Maria….You're kinda scaring me…Maria?"

She flew forward, fingers extended into claws, "You idiot!" She shrieked, "You could have killed her! If you want to fight on the top bars, do it against a full vampire who is not your girlfriend!"

Maria punctuated each word with a blow, hitting every part of him she could reach. "Ow! Ow! Maria! Knock it off! Abuse, abuse!" Darren cried, trying to run away, knowing that he would definitely be murdered by his mentor if he fought back against her.

This is a line, this is a line, this is still a line. This is a line; you are stupid if you think it's no longer a line.

Darren walked into the Hall of Kheldon Lert twenty minutes later, bruises and cuts all over him, walking with a slight limp. Arrow, who had emerged from the Hall of Princes to get some food looked at him in confusion. Darren mouthed, "Maria's pissed!"

And Arrow nodded and returned to his bat broth, it was just another day at Vampire Mountain, Maria angry, Larten stalking around like an overgrown bat shooting glares at everyone, one of the two half vampires being treated for injuries, the other limping along looking sheepish. Arrow smirked to himself, sometimes Vampire Mountain was so predictable.

Line, line, line. Liney, Line, Line. I'm a line! Yes I'm a line! Linelinelineline!Line! Line. Line. Line. Line. Line.

Marie walked around calmly, feeling much better after beating Darren to a pulp, now her day would be perfect if she could just find- Ah, there he was! She smiled evilly to herself and snuck up behind him, winding her arms around his waist, burying her face in his neck.

"Hello Maria." Larten murmured with a chuckle, pulling her around in front of him, holding her to his chest. "Are you finished tormenting my assistant?"

"For now, it's only because I care." Maria said with a giggle, looking up at him with a cocky grin. "But I din't come all the way over here to talk about your assistants."

Larten raised an eyebrow and smirked, pinning her against a wall, "That you didn't." he purred, before capturing her lips in his. They stayed like that for a long while, eventually someone yelled for them to get a room, Maria strongly suspected Darren. That boy just didn't learn.

This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. This is a line. Line. Line.

Annie walked into a hall whose name she hadn't even bothered to learn, all of these halls seemed to have some kind of odd name and there was no obvious pattern. Or maybe there was and it had something to do with a weird vampire custom she had yet to learn about, there were so many things that she didn't understand about her brother's culture. _Her culture,_ if she was going to have her way about it.

The past eight years had been hell, the child who was left basically alone by parents who were so caught up in grieving one child's death that they didn't notice that they still had another. Her friends had drifted apart from her, sure, they were still there, and she could laugh with them, and talk about crushes, but they really didn't understand her. Not anymore. The only reason Annie could really think of to stay was Steve, and well, that wasn't a good enough reason. Here, she could have her brother back, the vampires didn't seem to leave anyone out, everyone was part of their culture, their life, their _family_. Maybe that was the appeal of becoming one of them, she hadn't been part of a family in so long.

And then there was Amius. Annie couldn't work out quite what it was, but there was _something _there, she could feel it.

"Annie? What are you doing out here, are you lost?" Amius asked with concern. Ah, there it was again, every time she looked at him, or he talked to her, she felt like….like… like she felt she should feel with Steve. There, she had thought it. She, Annie Loraine Shan, didn't love Steve Leonard and probably never had. It was scary to think about, but why on earth did it make her feel so happy?


	6. Chapter 6

Darren was sitting in his room. His family was not around, Harkat had pulled a disappearing act, and it was Vancha's turn to be outside of the Mountain, all in all it should have been a boring day. Except there was one person who kept him company….Ronnie. He pushed back into the kiss, holding her closer and moving his lips firmly against hers. Today was far from boring, today was per-

"Darren Shan!" shrieked the voice of Angela Shan as she burst through the room uninvited and without knocking.

Darren pulled back away from Ronnie in shock and stared at his mother not really understanding why she was yelling at him. He sighed, this day had definitely taken an unwanted turn.

* * *

Annie was sitting in the nameless hall that she had wandered into, holding Amius's hand and laughing at one of his stories, this day was wonderful, this day definately couldn't get any better. Amius was incredible, absolutely incredible, he was such a gentleman and liked to hear stories about her childhood more than he liked to talk about himself which was certainly a breath of fresh air after Steve who talked about himself or how he was going to kill vampires nonstop. Annie turned slowly towards him, and without giving herself a chance to think about it, pressed her lips against his.

* * *

Amius was in his happy place, he had a beautiful, amazing girl next to him who he really liked, Darren, Larten, or anyone else who might protest to the two of them being together weren't around and Annie seemed happier than he had ever seen her. Yes, life couldn't get any bet- She was kissing him, and she was _good_. He reacted on instinct, pulling her deeper into the kiss, holding her gently enough that she could escape his arms if she got uncomfortable. Life didn't get any better than this.

* * *

Larten grinned at the woman who was standing in front of him, smiling cockily at him. "You can't beat me and you know it Larten, I'm too good. Just admit it and cut your losses." Maria said with a smirk, circling around the orange haired man.

"Ah, Maria darling, you forget that I have more than a hundred years of expierience. _You _do not." Larten murmered, waiting for her to make the first move.

"As always, Larten, your arrogance astounds me." Maria purred before lunging towards him, hands held back, ready to knock him out and be done with it. She had been waiting for a fair fight with Larten for a long time.

* * *

Dermot was glaring at a wall, trying to figure out why in the world everyone was mad at him, Darren glared at him every time they're paths crossed, Annie glared at him every time he glared at Amius, Angela glared at him every time he tried to tell her one of his escape plans, and that Crepsley man...well he felt the man's glare on him almost twenty four seven, and frankly it scared him a little bit.

So he did the one thing Dermot always did when he was angry...he planned.

* * *

Steve through a punch at the vampet in front of him, breaking the man's nose and sending him flying into a wall. "Next!" he roared. His plan was falling to pieces before his eyes, the Shans had disappeared, Annie had gone with them, sending all of his careful plots spiraling. Another vampet went flying into a wall, "This has Darren written all over it." he thought angrily, sending a fist into the man's gut. Then Steve smiled a malevolent smile that sent all the vampets back a step. Steve knew exactly what to do.


	7. Chapter 7

Ronnie was ready to kill herself, for more than three hours Mrs. Shan had insisted on talking to her about everything from the weather, "I'm not sure Mrs. Shan; I've been inside a cave for ten months." To her childhood, "You've known me since I was three Mrs. Shan." To the most embarrassing, did she plan to have children, "I'm a half vampire, I can't have children Mrs. Shan."

In short, Ronnie was really wishing she had challenged Darren to a rematch on the bars as opposed to going to "socialize" in his room.

* * *

Darren stared up at the ceiling as if begging some unknown god to relieve his boredom, to let his mother stop "getting to know" Ronnie, to let Larten come and keep him company even if it was just to make him feel stupid, for Harkat to stop glaring at him for telling Vancha it was Harkat who died his hair. _Anything._

Well, perhaps he shouldn't have said anything…. "Missing something Shan?" an all too familiar voice sneered.

"Steve!" Darren growled, leaping to his feet and unsheathing a knife from under his shirt.

"Ah ah ah, didn't your mommy ever tell you not to play with knives Darren? Someone could get cut." Steve said with a smirk and Darren realized he was holding Annie tightly with a knife against her throat.

"You see Darren, what happens when one plays nasty and goes behind their friends back, friends get angry and _cut,_" Annie whimpered as the blade drew closer to her throat and a small ruby red line appeared. "their ties with you." He said with a grin, the hand that wasn't holding the knife moved up and caressed her face, seeming to revel in her shudders of revulsion.

"Annie here would never do anything like that, would you Annie?" Steve murmured, moving his lips to her neck but keeping his eyes on Darren. "You love me don't you Annie? Say yes Annie and your big brother might walk out of here alive." He whispered his hot breath against her ear as he held her in a twisted parody of a lover's embrace, she couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't scream, no matter how much she wanted to.

He chuckled, "Move out men, our dear cousins have a bit of a mess to clean up."

He stalked off, thirty vampaneze congregating around him, and forty more joining them as they walked down the hall. Darren punched the nearest wall and yelled in anger, why the hell was nothing going right today?

* * *

Larten was drinking a pint of beer and laughing with one of his old General friends, about one drink away from doing something stupid that that he wouldn't remember that night, like seeing who could hit their head on the wall more times before they were knocked out (apparently the contest was very amusing, Larten was _not _amused when he woke up the next night covered in blood with a hangover.) When Darren came flying in, hands covered in blood, face livid with rage.

"Does anyone care to explain to me how the _hell _almost a hundred vampaneze snuck in here without anyone noticing and dragged away my sister?" he roared, glaring around as if daring anyone to answer.

Just then Angela walked in, "Oh, Darren there you are, have you seen your father? I've been looking for him for hours." She said calmly as if this happened often

"He's probably sulking in a corner somewhere; I thought you were talking to Ronnie." Darren growled, turning away from her.

"The rude little girl? She walked away with a bunch of oddly dressed men a few minutes ago, I thought I had gotten used to your people's way of dressing, apparently not.." She trailed off, oddly unaffected by Darren's obvious anger.

"She-what?" he snarled, a dangerous glint in his eyes that finally clued Angela in to step back, and quick.

"She walked away with a bunch of weirdly dressed men, come to think of it, she looked _very _angry, but I figured that that was just her normal facial expression. Your people really are odd Darren, is it some kind of a trend to paint your bodies purple?" Angela asked as if none of this was a problem at all.

"Charna's Guts!" Darren swore, flying out the door as quickly as he had come.

Larten had managed to stand up and dunk himself in a large vat of water, thanking his lucky stars that vampires don't stay drunk long (just go with it), and run off after his assistant after roaring at Angela to stay put. He wouldn't have time to find Maria and explain to her what was going on, hopefully she would forgive him, surely she would understand that he needed to find his assisstant immediantly? But he couldn't focus on Maria for too long, his assisstant was in danger and he was not going to leave any survivors if even a hair on her head was harmed.

* * *

Ronnie was angry beyond belief, not only was she being held hostage by vampaneze, which was beyond embarrassing, but Annie and her father were with them. Why they had left Darren's mother was beyond her, but she was grateful to not have an extra person to try to protect. As it was she had had to knock out Dermot when he began to insult the vampaneze and try to challenge them to a fight, really did the man have a death wish? Annie seemed to be taking things surprisingly well though. Either that or she was still in shock.

Ronnie carefully looked around her, as far as she could tell it was just a random cave, nothing to suggest they had been here before or were planning on staying long. Just as she was considering whether she could get the iron manacles off of her hands without anyone noticing, Steve walked over to her and smirked.

"You know Ronnie, it's not too late for the two of us. Mini Shan's just part of the plan my father's devised. She doesn't mean anything to me other than a way to hurt Darren. You on the other hand…." He said with a cocky grin, pulling her up to stand in front of him.

She smiled sweetly, "You know Steve, you're right, do you want to know a secret?"

Steve's grin grew wider and he leaned in close to her ear. Ronnie leaned forward, "You are a complete asshole." She murmured and kicked him where it hurt. _Hard_.

He yowled in shock and pain and doubled over, then he straightened up and back handed her, she landed on the ground hard and as much as she hated to admit it, it hurt like hell. That was definitely going to bruise.

"I should have known that being around Darren and Creepy Crepsley so long would have completely turned you against me. Just you wait Ronnie; a couple of weeks from now you'll be begging me to take you back. Enjoy your stay." He growled and spun on his heel and walked away.

Ronnie snorted, "You'll be _begging _me to take you back! Wow Steve, just wow."

So with nothing else to do, she tried to make herself as comfortable as she could on the hard rock floor and waited for Darren and Larten to come for her.


End file.
